With both hands on the handle of the sword I pushed forward, but she held on until she swerved to the side and kicked me at the knee. I fumbled, and it gave her the opportunity to free herself from me.
The wind started to blow wildly, and I was glad my short hair was tied back and away from my face. I didn’t know where the wind was coming from because I wouldn’t take my eyes away from Hel.
“That bitch!” Hel screamed.
I sheathed my sword and pulled out my two daggers that were attached to my ankle straps I didn’t know who she was calling a bitch, but I took advantage of her distraction and charged forward. I slid across the floor and slashed the daggers behind her thighs, cutting up her leather pants. I stood up behind her and stabbed her in the side, but she banged her head against mine, and I fell back. She pulled out the knife as if it were nothing and dropped it. It clanked on the ground and echoed in the room, dripping blood. She grabbed me by the throat and tossed me across the room. I stopped at Verdandi’s feet.
“It’s time for you to go,” the Norn said as she helped me to my feet.
I frowned as I looked around. We were surrounded by growling hellhounds in their human forms. I didn’t see Charlie or Will anywhere.
“Where are they?” I shouted as I clutched Verdandi’s arm, and my eyes widened with fear.
“I already sent them through the portal.” She smiled sadly. “Now go.”
My gaze hardened, and I looked over at Hel who only stood there watching with a smirk.
“You’re coming with me,” I said to the Norn, holding her tighter. I didn’t care about the stupid plans I was supposed to get for Tyr anymore. We needed to get out of here while we could.
“I’m staying, Raven,” she said as she turned me to face her, grabbing ahold of my face with both her hands on either side. “Trust your gut. You know what’s right,” she said before she kissed me on the lips. Her tongue parted my lips and swirled into my mouth, and I tensed, too shocked to react. I tried to pull away because this was out of character for Verdandi, but her hands tightened on my face and she held me still. She hated my guts on a serious level—like whenever the Norns come back to life, she’ll probably conspire with her sisters to end my life. I could almost guarantee it.
Her head turned to the side as she deepened the kiss, and that’s when I felt it. She slipped something into my mouth. I tucked it under my tongue. The Norn pulled away, and I gasped. My eyes were wide with shock even though I now understood why she did it, but I had to play the part.
“Go.” She pushed me away, and I stumbled into the portal, looking over my shoulder as I left my somewhat friend behind.
7
I hadn’t told Verdandi where to send me, so I was absolutely surprised when I stepped out of the portal and into the fields on the outskirts of Asgard. Thor, Fen, and Charlie were there waiting for me. We were a little away from camp but not too far that I didn’t hear the chatter from the other soldiers.
“Raven!” Charlie ran to me and hugged me tightly. “Where’s Verdandi?” She pulled back just as the portal swirled into a small circle and closed behind me.
“She stayed behind,” I mumbled, completely dumbfounded by what happened. Why would Hel let the Norn let me go?
“Why?” Charlie shook me. “Why did you let her?”
“She wouldn’t come. I don’t understand.”
“What do you mean, Raven?” Fen asked as he stepped closer. His expression was tight, and I knew he was upset that I left without saying anything to him.
I shrugged, still in my thoughts. “They just let me go. I was fighting Hel, and then she just let me go. But I don’t think Verdandi was supposed to let Charlie and Will go because at one point Hel got upset. This seemed planned. I think Verdandi had a vision of me coming. I think they knew.”
“If she knew—” Fen started, but I cut him off.
“She knew to send us to Asgard without me telling her. She knew, and then she kissed me to give me this.” Fen’s brows raised to his hairline, but I ignored him as I slipped the item from between my lips and pulled out a tiny little microchip inside of a case. “Verdandi might not look like a prisoner, but I think Hel has her in chains some way, and that’s why she couldn’t leave. But the Norn was prepared for when I arrived.”
Thor nodded. “We need to get that to Tyr immediately.”
“Where is he?” I asked as I noticed he wasn’t part of the welcome wagon.
“He took your friend over to the medical tent to be looked at. He’s not doing well,” Thor said with a look that said “Be prepared for the worst.”
My gaze met Charlie’s as I thought of Will and how I saw him. I didn’t even recognize him. Humans were so fragile. No, Will had to survive. He just had to.
“You look like you could use a bath,” I said to Charlie, and her eyes watered. She was thinking of Will as well.
“I could.” Her voice cracked.
“I can set you all up in a tent,” Thor said as he motioned us toward camp. “I’ll have someone bring you fresh water.”
Thor and Charlie walked up ahead as Fen and I followed behind them. I figured this would happen sooner or later. I just didn’t expect it so soon.
When we were a good distance away, Fen grabbed my arm and brought me to a halt. “What were you thinking?” he whispered. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Because my sister will kill you.”
I furrowed my brows. “So am I supposed to just sit back and let my friends die? Who do you think I am? Because if I hadn’t gone today, Will would be dead. Hell, he still might be if he doesn’t get well.”
“I would have gone with you!” he nearly shouted, and we both looked up ahead to make sure our companions didn’t hear.
I rubbed my fingers at the creases on my forehead and really thought about this. Why was he so upset? “What’s going on here, Fen? Between us I mean,” I muttered, almost not wanting to say it. I felt stupid saying it.
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been acting really weird lately. More overprotective even for a wolf, and now you’re acting like I can’t handle myself. I’m a gods damn warrior, Fen. I was trained to fight my whole life; this is what I do. I’m sober now thanks to you. I don’t need to be handled with kid gloves. So you tell me, what is happening because I thought we said no emotions,” I muttered the last part and looked away because, ultimately, I was a coward.
There was such a long pause that I had to peer up at him, and his obsidian eyes were blazing. His jaw was ticking, and I was sure he was cursing me out in his head at that precise moment. He watched me, and I wanted to look away under his intense glare.
“You mean to tell me you’re emotionless, Hrefna?” His voice was cold, nothing like I’d ever heard it before. “You don’t feel anything?”
I shivered. “I didn’t say that.”
Fen took a step closer to me, and I had to stop myself from taking a step back. “It sounds to me you don’t feel anything at all. You just want to be fuck buddies. Is that it?”
Fenrir towered over me as an intimidation tactic, but it was not working on me. “Are you seriously going there?” I attempted to push him, but he didn’t budge. “I said a whole lot of other stuff, but that’s all you hear, isn’t it?” I shook my head and laughed. “Men, you’re all the fuckin’ same.” I turned and started to walk away. “I know you don’t care much about humans and their trivialities, but I’m going to go and see if my friends are okay and what hardships they went through. That’s more important than whatever this is.”
The last thing I wanted to do was make light of the situation, but I honestly didn’t know what was up with him. And right then my priority was making sure Will was alive and seeing that Charlie was okay. She seemed fine, but they were gone for a few months. I wanted to make sure she was okay mentally. Hel must have put them through, well … hell. And I wanted to give them the appropriate attention they needed.
I didn’t look back to see if Fen was followin
g me or not. When I made it back to camp, I went straight to the medical tent. As I pulled the flap to go inside, the metallic scent of blood was strong with the layering odor of antiseptic. Multiple cots were lined in a row filled with Asgardians, but at the end was the one person I wanted to see. He was receiving the most medical attention.
Thor was off to the side as Tyr and others worked on Will. I couldn’t see from my vantage point, but I didn’t want to get any closer and interfere. Most importantly they were getting fluids in him. There was only so much they could do in the field, but he was dehydrated and malnourished.
“I don’t understand,” I muttered as I shifted closer to Thor. Charlie was distracted with what was going on with Will.
“What’s on your mind?” Thor asked.
I rubbed at my chin as I watched the medics work. “When they were taken by Hel, she said she was taking them as insurance, which means she needed them for something. It also seems like she got upset at Verdandi for letting them go through the portal. Why let Will disintegrate like this if she needed him?”
Thor’s hazel eyes narrowed as he thought about what I said. “That’s a good question. You say he’s human, yes?”
I nodded. “And she’s a banshee. I don’t understand why she would want them.”
“I know,” Fen’s voice called out from behind me, and I spun around to see him standing in the middle of the medical tent, his jaw clenched and obsidian eyes like a pair of storms. He was battling with something internally.
“Care to share with the rest of us?” I said sarcastically.
He walked toward us, a little hesitantly. “I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want it to cloud your decision making—”
“You also didn’t want to drive me to drink,” I added because, let’s be real, that was his main concern.
He huffed. “That too. But I put it together the day it all happened, when she took Charlie, Will, and Verdandi. When she revealed her plan. She was pissed that you turned me, her brother, against her, but she didn’t do much to stop you. That was my first red flag when she let us go. That’s not Hel’s MO.” Fen’s eyes diverted to where Will lay on a cot practically lifeless, just hanging on by a thread. “Then when she said she’d take them as insurance, that’s when I knew it had to do with you,” he said as he turned to look at me.
“With me?” I pointed at my chest. “What are you talking about?”
“My sister wants to rebuild the realms, right? Destroy everything Odin holds dear and remake them in her image. Well, she has this theory. She mentioned it to me a while back, but I never paid it any mind because it’s ludicrous. Hel believes, since valkyries can see, take away, and kill souls, they can also create them. I think she wants you to create new life for her. So your friends are her leverage. It’s the only thing you actually care about.”
I stood stock-still as I stared at Fen carefully. I waited a couple of beats to make sure this wasn’t a joke he was playing on me. But he was serious. More serious than I’d ever seen him.
“She can’t believe that to be true.” Thor interrupted my thoughts. “Valkyries are still half human. They cannot possess such powers. Not even I can hold something so strong.”
“My sister has a couple of screws missing. She’s not all there,” Fen said, never taking his eyes off me. “What are you thinking, Raven?”
So many thoughts were running through my mind, and I couldn’t organize them into a single thought. Except for one. One stuck out, and it was the only thing I blurted. “That’s why you wanted to find them? Why you wouldn’t give up? Because you knew, or at least thought you knew. You’ve been desperate since day one to find Verdandi, Will, and Charlie, and I never understood why because you despise them, but it’s because of this, isn’t it?”
Fen didn’t say anything, and I honestly didn’t know what to feel. Should I be upset, angry, or comforted? What? He lied to me. He also didn’t let me give up on my friends, but why did I have this feeling of betrayal in my chest?
“What’s important is that we know,” Thor said, cutting into the silence. “We’re prepared for whatever madness Hel tries to throw our way. And with her leverage gone—well, she still has your other friend, correct?”
“Verdandi, the Norn,” I said, turning my back on Fen. “She might want her for other reasons though. Who wouldn’t want a Norn on their side who could prophesize?”
“Well, let’s see what your Norn gave you in that chip. I have a computer back home we can use,” Thor said as he motioned to the memory card in my hand.
I snorted. “You brought a computer from Midgard to Asgard?” I couldn’t stop the laugh that wanted to bumble up.
Thor grinned. “I have a lot of stuff from Midgard, you wouldn’t even believe.”
“Now I really have to see this.”
Will’s health was better but limited with the material they had at camp, so we were taking him back into town where he could get the proper care. Tyr was coming along because he wanted to see what was on the memory card just as much as the rest of us. Everyone had left already except for me and Charlie. We were going to ride together, and I’d done that on purpose. I wanted to have some alone time with her and make sure she was okay.
When I mounted the horse Thor had lent me, I helped Charlie climb on behind me and started a slow trot toward town. Charlie’s gaze whipped back and forth as she took in the rolling green mountains and terrain. Besides her time with Hel, this was probably her first time in another realm. So she was soaking the experience in.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I said with a knowing smirk.
She sighed. “How could you ever leave this place?” she breathed dreamily. “The colors are so vibrant, and the air is so crisp. It’s nothing like back home.”
I shook my head. “You just haven’t seen it yet, but Midgard has many beautiful places just like Asgard.”
“It makes me want to travel more,” Charlie said as she held on to me tighter.
“You should.” I nodded warily. “Have you thought about what you want to do now?”
There was a pregnant pause before she said, “What do you mean?”
I bit my lip as I thought about how I wanted to answer that. I didn’t want to offend her, and I knew I’d most likely end up doing so. Charlie was the type to see this through till the end, but what was best for her was to get away from this altogether. I’d been nothing but trouble since she’d met me, and it was time she learned some self-preservation.
“Do you think it’s time you might consider doing some of that travel now?” I winced a little as I said it. It wasn’t so subtle.
She tensed behind me. “I know what you’re trying to do, Raven, and it’s not going to work. We’re in this until the end.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line. She was so stubborn. “Charlie, what happened these last few months?”
“It’s not important.”
I pulled the reins and brought us to a halt before craning my neck to look at her. “It is important, Charlie. I can’t begin to imagine what you and Will went through, but I want to be here for you. So talk to me. Let me be your friend.”
Her bottom lip quivered, and then she hid her face against my back. “It was awful, Raven,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “We were never hurt physically, but it was a lot of psychological warfare. From day one, we never saw Verdandi again. She would separate me and Will sometimes, and we wouldn’t see each other for days, but I’d hear screams. I don’t know if they were his, but it sounded like it was. I always thought they were coming for me next, but they never came.” She shuddered against me. “I was muzzled the whole time except for whenever I ate. And when it was time to eat, I always had a dagger to my throat. I couldn’t scream. I wanted to scream so bad, Raven. Do you know how powerless I felt?”
I placed my hand on top of her knee. “None of it is your fault, Charlie. You know that, right?”
She nodded. “I just wish I could have done something. Helped Will.
He fought back, while I just went with the flow. It’s why he’s so ill.”
Now it was all making sense. She was feeling guilt.
“There was nothing you could have done. You survived, and that’s the important part.” I squeezed her knee. “Now let’s make sure Will survives so when this is all over, the three of us can go out like normal people. Maybe actually have a friend’s night, sans alcohol since I’m sober and all.” I grinned.
Charlie gasped. “Oh my gosh, are you for real?”
“Yes, ma’am. Two months now and counting.”
I loosened the reins and dug my heels in the horse’s sides, and he began to move forward again. Charlie hugged me tightly from behind with a squeal.
“I’m so proud of you,” she murmured.
“And I’m proud of you, Charlie. You survived the worst. You’ll make it out of the rest.”
We made it to town in a few hours as we took the scenic route, and I should have followed the guys because I wasn’t sure if Thor still lived in the same place as he did centuries ago. Instead of roaming through town, I asked the first person I saw, and they directed me to the apartment above the local blacksmith, and that made me quirk a brow. Thor could live anywhere, in the palace even if he wanted, but he chose above the blacksmith? There must be a story in there somewhere.
The Last Valkyrie Series Complete Boxed Set Page 41
